A cinematic event starring Richard Gere has added "Mothman" and "Point
Pleasant" to the ever-evolving vocabulary of mainstream America.

The Mothman Prophecies (book and movie) is
based on true events. More than fleeting and random encounters with a
red-eyed winged monstrosity, the complete story describes how a myriad
of paraphysical phenomena stalked the residents of Point Pleasant, West
Virginia and environs. Unsettling and mysterious incidents destroyed
lives. Forty-six souls were lost when the Silver Bridge collapsed in
1967.

Mothman! It stood broader and taller than a man, walked in sort of a
halting off-balance shuffle on muscular and humanlike legs, and emitted
a high-pitched squeaking.

But those eyes! The red glowing eyes, set into the "shoulders," (the
head was not an outstanding characteristic) seem to have been more
terrifying than either the stature of the creature or the ten-foot span
of its wings. Witnesses reported feeling an uncontrollable,
indescribable terror.

"But it was those eyes that got us. It had two big
eyes like automobile reflectors. They were hypnotic. For a minute we
could only stare at it. I couldn't take my eyes off it."
---Linda Scarberry

Red glowing eyes?

Bioluminescence?

Eyes that glow red of their own volition? Like fireflies?

Or mechanical? Some kind of infra-red vision?

NO.

The eyewitnesses here are very precise.

"...fiery-red eyes that glow when the lights hit
it. There was no glowing about it until the lights hit it."
---Linda Scarberry

The young men said they saw the creature's eyes,
which glowed red, only when their lights shined on it.
---Point Pleasant Register (Wednesday, November 16, 1966)

"The dog was sitting on the end of the porch,
howling down toward the hay barn... I shined the (flash)light in that
direction, and it picked up two red circles, or eyes, which looked like
bicycle reflectors. I certainly know what animal eyes look like...
these were much larger. It's a good length of a football field to that
hay barn... still those eyes showed up huge for that
distance."---Newell Partridge

Here we have our first clue...

Animals that see at night must have eyes that collect a lot of light.

Night eyes should be large. The bigger the eyes, the more light they
can collect.

Night eyes should have big pupils. Bigger pupils let in more light.

Night eyes should have lots of special cells, called rods, that help
them see in the dark.

SOME EVEN HAVE REFLECTORS!

Which is probably why Mothman's eyes appear to glow red in the dark?

The spooky look is caused by a membrane that lines the back of the
retina.

Some creatures which spend part of their time using their eyes in dim
light have reflective retinas. You see, not all light is absorbed by
visual pigments in the retina; some of it passes through. A mirrored
layer called the tapetum (ta-PEE-tum) lucidum, "bright carpet," behind
the retina, reflects some of this light back through the retina so it
has more chance of being captured. By increasing or rather, by bouncing
the light that comes into their eyes, these animals effectively
increase the amount of light available for their eyes to see with, and
increase their ability to see in what we perceive as "darkness". Cats,
partly due to the tapetum lucidum, can see clearly in just 1/6th the
amount of light humans need. These animals lose some visual acuity this
way, but make more efficient use of low light. Light that is not used
exits through the pupil causing the "glow" of animal eyes often seen in
car headlights or flashlights.

Why your different animals have eyes that glow different colors? It is
possible that one of them has visual pigments which absorb shorter
wavelengths (so the non-absorbed light would look red) than the other.
Different colored irises may account for something.

You don't have a tapetum lucidum. People's eyes look red in some
photographs, but it's not a reflector. It's the camera flash bouncing
off the red blood vessels and red tissue in the back of your eye.

Over and over again, frightened witnesses suggested that Mothman was
"light sensitive."

The creature avoided bright light sources at all costs.

"It apparently is afraid of light." --Steve
Mallette

Exactly what you would expect of a creature with eyes designed to see
in "darkness."

Eyes equipped with a mirrored layer called the tapetum lucidum.

Eyes that glow red in the dark.

Part 2: Eyeshine and Mothman

"Those eyes!"

Mothman's red glowing eyes, set into the "shoulders," (the head was not
an outstanding characteristic) seem to have been more terrifying than
either the stature of the creature or the ten-foot span of its wings.

Scattered and independent eyewitness reports of brief encounters with
the being we have come to identify as the Mothman have furnished us
with many curious clues.

Let's examine scientific reality for a moment.

Animals that see well at night must have eyes that have some or all of
the following things:

1 --- Large eyes. The bigger the eyes, the more light they can collect.

3 --- A reflector. A cat's eyes are perhaps its most striking features,
and never more so than at night, when they seem to glow in the dark
with an almost supernatural light.

4 --- Night eyes should have lots of special cells, called rods, that
help them see in the dark.

Eyes possessing two or more of these characteristics identify creatures
which spend time using their eyes in dim light. Animals who have a
habit of prowling in the dark must have eyes that are more efficient in
gathering the available light so that the animal can "see" in the dark.

A deer has: big eyes - big pupils - a reflector - lots of rods.

A cat has: big pupils - a reflector - lots of rods.

A toad has: big pupils - lots of rods.

A crocodile: has a reflector - lots of rods.

Human eyes have lots of rods. But we don't see at night as well as some
animals do. No reflector.

#1) Mothman was reported as having large eyes. The eyes are
front-facing and separated giving good (3-D) binocular vision.

#2) I have never uncovered any mention of pupil size with respect to
Mothman's eyes.

In many animals, (including dogs, cats and deer) the retina has a
special reflective layer (using platelets of guanine crystals) called
the tapetum lucidum (a Latin term that translates as "bright carpet")
that acts almost like a mirror at the backs of their eyes. By bouncing
the light that comes into their eyes, these animals effectively
increase the amount of light available for their eyes to see with, and
increase their ability to see in what we perceive as "darkness". If you
shine a flashlight or headlights into their eyes at night, their eyes
shine back. This is called "eyeshine."

"...fiery-red eyes that glow when the lights hit
it. There was no glowing about it until the lights hit it." --- Linda
Scarberry

#3) Brilliant eyeshine has been completely documented during Mothman
encounters. This is solid evidence that the creature's eyes employ a
mirror-like reflecting layer.

#4) Short of an autopsy, I can think of no way to verify whether or not
Mothman's eyes have lots of special cells, called rods, that help them
see in the dark.

Why do different animals have eyes that glow different colors?

It is possible that one of them has visual pigments which absorb
shorter wavelengths (so the non-absorbed light would look red) than the
other.

Different colored irises may account for something. Cats with green or
yellow eyes tend to reflect greenish light. Cats with blue eyes, such
as Siamese, tend to reflect reddish light.

Animal eye-shine ID is an important clue for hunters as well as
naturalists. Most cats and dogs usually have green eye shine.
Alligators have red eye shine. Opossums eyes shine pink. Birdwatchers
often refer to the color reaction to a bird's eyes when they have a
light shined on them at night, for example, blue eyeshine or green
eyeshine. Most owls have red eyeshine. At night, wolf spiders can be
collected by taking advantage of their eyeshine. The light from a
flashlight will reflect off of the tapetum located in the eyes of the
spider.

Over and over again, frightened witnesses suggested Mothman was "light
sensitive" and that the creature avoided bright light sources at all
costs.
"It apparently is afraid of light."---Steve Mallette

Have we a natural example of this behavior?

Yes. The tapetum lucidum gives walleyes a built-in survival advantage:
they can see well in dim light, but their prey cannot. This natural
"night vision" explains why these fish do most of their feeding in dim
light. But because of their light-sensitive eyes, walleyes will not
tolerate sunlight. If the water is clear and there is no shade in the
shallows, the fish may go as deep as 40 feet to escape the penetrating
rays. But in dark or choppy waters, walleyes can remain shallow all day.

Perhaps the light sensitive eyes of the Mothman were slow to recover
from the blinding effects of automobile headlights and other brilliant
light sources.

My point is that the subtle facts recorded by independent witnesses
plainly indicated that Mothman had eyes that were more efficient in
gathering the available light so that this creature could "see" in the
dark. And that this creature behaved accordingly.